Clearly the part of this show that will be remembered is BB. There are two thoughts on how that went and I think for the most part both are correct based on who you are.

The hour King played was not the type of music (straight blues) most of the younger fans had interest in or excepted when they bought tickets so I guess I get it that some didn't really enjoy that part of the show (the kids around me started comlpaining to one another about 20 minutes into the BB appearance). Being a little older and straight blues being what lights my soul on fire, I was beside myself. Blues is what made me pick up the guitar in the first place.

From a guitar players standpoint it's my opionon BB's blues vocabulary is second to none and this night was no exception. He says more with less notes then anyone in the game. Again, younger people who just wanted to see smoke come off Trey's guitar in typical Trey fashion may never understand how impressive BB's playing is or was that night.

What I remember most was watching Trey's face and body language. I got the feeling Trey was so selective with his notes, as if he needed to show BB that he too can speak the blues. Trey looked and played like he had been preparing for this moment his whole life and wanted to impress BB the way a boy might want to impress his father. I might actually say he seemed nervous.

There have been many shows for me since and hopefully will be many more in the future and most of those will be standard good night/bad night Phish shows. This was a one time thing and I thank God that it happened in front of me.

Without BB this was another night in life of Phish. A good time with some great moments but the show wasn't going to be blogged about for a decade after as epic. So in the end, the only reason this show gets noticed is that one hour of straight blues.

I figured I would review this after fluffing the Twist in the forum. This show has a somewhat "backwards" structure in that the 1st and 3rd quarters are very strong, but then both sets go downhill. The opening four tunes were a fantastic start to my first post-hiatus show, all well-played, lots of energy. I was sure BB would be done after Everyday - had phish gone back to being phish and even played a modest ending to Set I, I think both the show and guest spot would have been more well-received.

but thrill is gone and rock me went on way, way too long. Aimless. I love me some blues - SRV would make an ideal guest if he wasn't, you know, dead - but the BB thing was overkill. It reminded me of the mini-acoustic sets. Great for a mid-set change of pace and then (like 12/28/98 and the Ball) they need to bust out something juicy to bring things back up.

Same deal in set II with an inspired start. 15 min Halleys>Hood to open? Yes please!! Then, the Twist gets really dark, counterpoint to the joyous disease. And at the time, we didn't know this kind of jamming would be the 2003 hallmark so it was exciting to hear new sounds, so different from 2000. Phish is back and going new places!!

All of these Dreams and Waves were a good bridge to a potentially smoking ending (maybe an exclamation point like Timber>Bowie?) but sample/chalkdust/farmhouse wasn't enough to seal the deal.

Get the big jams, give BB a listen, but pass on the rest.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

The process of waiting on line and getting into this show, then getting frisked has never been more disorganized and simply pathetic than on this night. I think anyone who was there would agree, it was a disaster. We decided to head in at 6:45 p.m. and the entrances had huge lines of fans across the entire parking lot. We didn't get in until almost 8:00 p.m.! It felt like I was sitting in my car on Snake Road on the way to Big Cypress.
When BB King emerged, I, and I think a lot of other people, were pretty much in shock that it was really him. Talk about a '”special” guest. The man is a legend. The first tune contained a few rough spots. Trey and BB were sorta feeling each other out a little bit. The “Thrill is Gone” was pretty special. Trey and BB got into some nice dueling blues licks, then BB would pump up the crowd. All in all I feel fairly privileged to have been there to see this. Trey and BB exchanged hugs at the end of the set, which lasted nearly ninety minutes. Very good set and a good feeling.
Set II began with “Haley's Comet”, which was very sweet. It was the first one played post-Hiatus. There was not a lot of soloing by Trey but he found some nice grooves and you could really hear the band playing together so well. It pretty much went right into “Harry Hood”. The band is definitely taking this song to new and interesting places. It seems like they build up the jam at the end but now they sorta bring it back down before bringing the jam all the way back again into a frenzy. This was another spot where the band could have come with another fast and upbeat song and blown the roof off. But “Heavy Things” came next. The jam at the end of this song was definitely turned up a notch compared to usual, which made it a little more enjoyable.
“Twist” came next, and they took it to a place I've never heard: a real spooky, noisy, funky jam. “Waves” is unquestionably my favorite song on Round Room but this version clinched it for sure. Regardless of its questionable placement in this set, the jam built so intensely with Trey rolling the notes off so perfectly. When “Sample” started I think everyone thought this long and interesting night was coming to a close, but out of the closing chords we heard the opening riff of “Chalk Dust”. The crowd went crazy, myself included. I was expecting something fairly slow for the encore and got “Farmhouse”. I will take this song over any Round Room ballads.
Even though the second set looks a little suspect on paper, the band was experimental, really on and really tight throughout every song they played the entire night. “DWD”, “Wolfman's Brother”, “Haley's Comet”, “Hood”, “Waves”, and “Chalk Dust” were all above average versions in my mind. And BB King was more than I could have hoped for. Truly a great time.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

Ah"...the Continental Airlines Arena in beautiful northeastern New Jersey, formerly known as the Brendan Byrne Arena and home to numerous excellent Dead shows in the 80's (with tapes often labeled as merely "Meadowlands"). I wonder if those Deadheads had as difficult a time getting into the venue as we did. This was the first time Phish played Continental, and the only way to access the arena via the parking lot was through a tiny space in a chain link fence, causing unbelievably long lines and thus delays. Logic would have seemed to dictate creating more openings, or using more (or less surly) security staff, but logic is seldom in abundance at the huge hockey arenas Phish rocks on the East Coast.
As it turned out, February 24th ended up being one of the more controversial shows of the winter tour because this was where B.B. King sat in with the band for the last three songs of the first set (all B.B tunes), a sequence totaling nearly an hour. I say "controversial" because this resulted in opinions ranging from "best guest spot ever," to the more common, "the dullest hour of Phish I've ever seen"...B.B. didn't seem to know where he was." Not having seen Phish since September of 2000, I would cast my vote in the latter camp.
After opening the set with a raging "Disease" and fine versions of "Wolfman's" and "Limb by Limb", the addition of B.B. King brought the house energy down to a frighteningly low level. While the old school meets new school pairing of Phish and King sure seems cool on paper, the actual result was a dreary hour of tentative blues licks that was probably far more suited to a smoky nightclub than a packed arena. Things bordered on embarrassing at times; Trey and B.B. often seemed to be stepping on each other's toes, while not wanting to outdo the other, and neither Phish nor King could seem to decide when it was time for the latter to leave. So while King remains a living legend, and the effort was appreciated, the Hiatus left the packed arena hungry for some raging Phish, and judging from the amount of fans in their seats, this wasn't it.
Fortunately, Set II was relatively solid from top to bottom, featuring a bevy of setlist staples that were goosed with some extra juice, the "Halley's" > "Hood" combo in particular. "Waves" will eventually morph into the Set II standout that its capable of becoming, and the "Farmhouse" encore, played in its original key of D, was a pleasant sendoff.
But ultimately, 2/24 was more of a historical curiosity than a good Phish gig. However, if this show led anyone to believe that post-Hiatus version of Phish painted a portrait of a band slowly losing its edge, the next three shows of the winter run wasted no time in putting such thoughts to rest.

If you don't like the blues, skip the latter half of the 1st set. I enjoyed the guitar interplay, although Page could be louder on the organ. Page finally gets his licks in on The Thrill Is Gone, and shows that he can jam admirably in a 12-bar blues format.

Outside of the BB section, there's plenty of excellent jamming, starting right away with an excellent DWD. Halley's jams out pretty nicely; like Tube, this is a song that could jam for a long time but rarely does. Harry Hood blows away the version from a couple nights earlier in Cincinnati. There's brief almost heavy metal section in the middle that helps drive the jam to greater heights. Twist gets really down and dirty for a long time. I love Waves.

I said 2-22 might have been the best Phish 2.0 show, but I'm starting to think that 2003 in its entirety was the best year for Phish. It's certainly the jammiest. It doesn't have the sheer blazing speed chops of 1993-95, but makes up for it with a well-seasoned group improvisational mind. Also, there's not as much of the shtick that I didn't care for, like the no-microphones portion of early fall 94 shows, or Scent of a Mule every other show.

2/24/2003 was my first show of 2.0 and first since Hershey Park in 2000. I was excited to see Phish together with my wife-to-be for the first time, as well as family and friends from all over Jersey. This was the first and most likely the last time that Phish performed at Continental Airlines Arena. I have known this place well from seeing the New Jersey Devils play hockey at least forty times here. This is also the venue that I saw my first two concerts as an eight year old back in 1988, The Moody Blues and INXS with Ziggy Marley opening.

I predicted a Cars, Trucks, Buses opener since this place is right on the NJ Turnpike and the song was named after the sign from the very highway. Instead we were met with the distorted bass rumblings signalling Down With Disease. Disease was high energy and was exactly what I needed to wrap my mind around the fact that I was actually at a Phish show again! The next song up was Corinna. I felt like a Corinna magnet, seeing the last three played since Big Cypress. Wolfman's Brother had an excellent peak in a straightforward type 1 jam. Limb By Limb kept the pace up with a pretty strong type 1 jam as well.

At the end of Limb By Limb I realized was was standing directly behind my friend TJ from my first real band in eighth grade. We said hello right as B.B. King was announced to the stage. We couldn't believe it!

I was very excited to see a living legend such as B.B. King, especially jamming with Phish. However, this would have been much better if it wasn't so long. I felt that Everyday I Have the Blues was fun but definitely did not go anywhere outside the box and could have ended five minutes before it does. I thought that might be it, but then they started up Thrill is Gone. It was cool to hear, especially since I consider this a signature B.B. King song. But again, it was not meshing very well and went on longer than it should have. When Rock Me Baby started, many of us felt like all of the energy from the first four songs was completely sucked out of the arena. This song had another aimless, straightforward blues progression before finally ending the set. I wish they would have played one more of their own songs to close the set on their terms, so to speak, but that was not so.

Halley's Comet opened the second set and brought hope to pump the show back up. From the jam out of Halley's emerged the opening drums of Harry Hood. This show seemed like it was really rounding the bend and getting back on track. However, this is not a particularly strong Hood. The outro jam seemed to lack any real enthusiasm and felt flat. Looking down on the stage from the side of Page, I felt like Trey seemed dazed and was trying to keep it together. Heavy Things was only ok. Twist was slow and murky. All of These Dreams certainly did not raise the energy level. It was nice to hear my first Waves, I really liked that song from Round Room. Sample brought the show's spirits back up and Chalkdust made the set respectable. The Farmhouse encore was nice but didn't make up for the extreme lack of energy from this show.

Overall, I was disappointed after the show, considering it was my first one back. Wolfman's Brother was the best song of the night, coming all the way back in the early first set. It was cool to see the novelty of B.B. King, but the sum of it didn't work for me. The second set was flat, murky, and lacking any real inspiration. However, Phish completely made up for the lack of energy from this show the next night at the old Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Welcome to beautiful wastelands of East Rutherford NJ!! Tripping hard on purple oregon mushrooms (Thanks Dar for getting those from Layla!), led me to believe for the longest time while outside the lot that I was actually stuck in the "Dolldrums" from the Phantom Tollboth, the creatures from the muck were tearing at my legs, trying to pull me into the deep, and I was simply terrified! Once me and my girlfriend of the time (this was our first show together, we use this show to measure how long we were together, which ended around 6 years later) got into the arena, the first thing I could hear was the opening hook of the Down with Disease jam that just sent the crowd in the arena into an absolute FRENZY!! The energy level toppled off the charts at this point, fueled by Trey's screaming licks which moistened the panties of both girls and guys alike! For whatever reason, that particular hook at that particular moment, really stays with me always...I still get goosebumps when I listen to recordings of it years later.

Now, after attempting to ingest a lit cigarette, and climbing off the balcony (purple mushrooms are evil/awesome!) I made my way to the bathroom where a guy was talking about BB King, and he kept trying to tell me BB King was actually playing with Phish. I didn't believe him. I thought he was trying to mess with an obviously tripping kid..than I heard BB King playing, and I thought that the power of this guys persuasion, coupled with psychotropic compounds, had actually made my mind believe that BB King was playing, and my mind was playing BB King......I looked over, and the guy on the urinal on my left looked right at me, and had a priceless look on his face, his pupils were as wide as the night sky, I felt like I could just fall into them..He than asked me "Dude, am I tripping? Or is BB King playing right now...? Still not conviced, I headed back to me seat to find that yes, in fact BB actually was playing with Phish on stage.....that whole debacle in the bathroom was probably more exciting than actually hearing BB King play. Now we must give him respect, he is absolutely a legend. "The Thrill is Gone" was great. But honsetly, we all didn't travel from points all over the world to here standard issue, dynamicless blues....We wanted Phish!

Set 2 was Fantastic! It had been a long time since my last Halley's Comet, which was very special. Harry Hood was great < Sample/Chalkdust were SICK!! But than, as sometimes they do, they decided to drop the LAMEST encore ever, Farmhouse. hahah, I wasn't mad, I just found myself laughing my ass off on the trip back to the car.....Good show overall, very easy to pinpoint because of the presence of BB King....oh and just for the records, East Rutherford NJ might be the grimiest place on earth.

This Disease opener has some good type 1 exploration and a decent peak. Nothing mind blowing but fun. Corinna is an old Phish favorite that is always a joy to hear. Kinda makes me want for them bust out some of the old jazz standards they used to play back in the day. Wolfman's is sooo tight, the jam is typical but I can tell they were grooving this one but didn't want to stretch it out too much. Limb sashays into the set with its signature whirlwind of notes. It continues to amaze me how they can pack so much into such little time. Then B.B. King comes out and ruins everything... nah I'm jk. I'm sure this was a cool experience for the band and probably felt significant to those in the audience. Playing with a legend like King is an absolute honor. Looking at pictures from the show the band seems really jazzed to get to play with him. I'm glad they were and I'm glad this exists... but there's just not much replay value. I can hear Trey trying to goad King into trading solos but, well, that's not the kind of player his nor is that his background. In summary: not great, not terrible. At least it wasn't Jay-Z!

Am I crazy or does Trey's noodling at the start sound like Reba?? Halley's starts off noticeably slower than normal (although about as fast as they play it now). Consequently it heads straight into a quintessential 2.0 deep groove. No fog or haze just a late night drive with sprinkles of light from Page. I've never heard this jam mentioned before; definitely underrated. After a strong peak, Fish switches up the beat to sounding almost like Hydrogen. Trey jettisons the idea with some choppy riffs and then some swampy effects leading us into Hood. This a quick midset Hood, all killer no filler. Heavy Things is fine as a slight cooldown and has a typical super melodic solo from Trey. Twist gets back into some deep jamming with that sludgy noise jamming that many 2.0 haters point to. I for one love this kind of sound. AOTD is played once again this tour. Waves is a very solid version that I wish continued on a little longer. Sample & Chalk Dust are the 1-2 punch needed to end the set with some energy. I've never liked Farmhouse as an encore.

Like an apple with one side that is just plain unappetizing but otherwise quite tasty, this show evokes mixed reactions. Because of the above average quality of some of the earlier/later shows on this tour (2/14, 2/16, 2/20, 2/26, 2/28), it's easy to just remember this as "the B.B. King show," narrowing its identity down to its most disappointing segment. Upon first listen, I held out hope that the negative reviews would just be Phans disapproving an unexpected deviation from their regularly scheduled programming. Alas, the sit-in is just...boring. And it isn't just because it's the blues. Nobody commits to taking anything anywhere. While I'm sure there was some novelty involved for attendees who can now boast their "I saw Phish with B.B. King" badges, there no such consolation prize for the at-home listener...

...at least for that portion of the show. Eating around the mealy part, this show does have some praiseworthy moments. DwD is a cool opener with some more improvisational elements than the 2/21 version. Wolfman's has a great build to the peak and features wonderful Mike and Fishman as Trey lets his guitar soar. LxL also brings a little extra heat. Set 2 has a bit of a weird flow, but is dotted with excellent jams. Perhaps my favorite is the dynamic and groovy Halley's Comet opener. This one honestly reminds me a lot of Fall '97. Hood is an '03 style ripper. Twist goes pretty far type II to reach some cool dark and ominous spaces after grooving along for a bit. CDT and Farmhouse are typical in structure, but each has just a little more oomph that make 'em worth visiting. CDT in particular brushes up against Bowie territory in some parts (see 6:00-6:35 with Trey's frenetic guitar playing and Page's wonderful comping).

SET 1: Down with Disease: Big gun out of the gate. This one settles nice and early. Trey strumming away rhythmically allowing his mates to do the heavy lifting. By the 11-minute mark Trey is slowly gaining control of this jam and by mid-12’s he is ramping this up a good bit. The outro comes into play around 13 minutes. Nicely jammed, nothing I would necessarily go out of my way to revisit but that was a great way to open this show.
Corinna: Second time played since Big Cypress – never thought I would see this. Basically, no crowd reaction which at the show and upon relistening now I find quite odd.
Wolfman's Brother: Nice, slow, and funky and then properly ripped by Trey with some nice sustain. >
Limb By Limb: Set is looking fantastic so far! Trey trills the hell out of this starting at 5:20 and then just continues to go off with beautiful sustain. Definitely showing off for the special guest that was waiting in the wings.
Everyday I Have the Blues: Trey “I want to bring a friend out to play with us on guitar” Doesn’t even introduce him by name. LOL. When the crowd realizes it is BB King, we all went nuts. BB seemed shy and tentative – hesitant to take the reins – but still there is plenty of cool stuff in this jam. I mean, I got to see one of the greatest ever play with my personal hero, Trey. I will never forget it and wouldn’t change a thing. EVERYDAY EVERYDAY EVERYDAY EVERYDAY EVERYDAY!!!!!!
The Thrill is Gone: Mike sounds so good throughout this jam.
Rock Me Baby: Great stuff!
SET 2: Halley's Comet: First four minutes of the jam Trey leads with this super dark, crunchy tone. Very heavy. But around 9:30 he gets into that funky 97 riffing with Page throwing in tasty licks and Mike just sounds amazing in here, so thick. Pornofunk! In the late tens Trey is getting more aggressive and intentional and hits on a recurring theme. By 12:30 things are slowing down a good bit and it almost sounds like it go JJLC or Dogs Stole Things. But wait, not so fast just 20 seconds later Trey starts an upbeat, blissful trend. This doesn’t last more than a minute and things are getting decidedly dark again >
Harry Hood: Wow, I never saw this coming that’s for sure but welcomed it with open arms. Trey hits a few severe sour notes going into the jam. Really great jam and things get super heavy metal before going for the traditional ending that is quite exceptional, absolutely love this version >
Heavy Things: Ugh, seriously? Why? Trey trills the hell out of the climax though.
Twist: Slight detour with HT but now we are back in the groove. Interesting conversation before this one starts up, you can hear Fish the most, he sounds miffed about something that happened in HT. Trey sounds like he is hitting on some Santana stuff around 8:03. Things get super intense very quickly and by the mid 10-minute range things are getting quite dark. Listen to Mike in the late 13’s – he is absolutely liquid! Fish is crushing cymbals. This intense jam really is a microcosm of what this tour was for me. Incredible effects from Page starting at 15:20.
All of These Dreams: A needed breather after that intense, psychedelic romp.
Waves: Completely standard. >
Sample in a Jar: Ummm, what? Why are they mailing it in? >
Chalk Dust Torture: Upon this one starting up I though surely, they would pull something out of their hat and bust out a 7.10.99 or something similar. This is a typical Chalkdust that gets smoked at the end. But still…

ENCORE: Farmhouse – This is exceptionally well played; Trey sounds absolutely amazing. I was fine with it.
Replay Value/Summary: Halley’s, Hood, Twist (all timer), Farmhouse. Did the BB King stuff go on for too long? Maybe. But look, the guy is a living legend and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the band. They seized the moment. I am fine with it, and I was there so whatever. The first set of Phish stuff was extremely solid. The first half of the second set was face melting brilliance. The second half was strange. Did they run out of gas? Was someone not getting along with each other on stage? Listen to what Fish is saying after Heavy Things, maybe someone can transcribe it. The 3.23 rating on .net is extremely ridiculous. This was a good show, with an incredible guest, and a strange ending to what was shaping up to be an all time second set. Oh well. I would score it as a 3.7 out of 5.

I really knew nothing about this show going into it Saturday afternoon. I'd say with certainty I hadn't listened to a lick of this show in, at least, the last 5-6 years. For better or for worse, it makes the show very interesting to listen to with a blank mind and without anticipating highlights or lowlights.

The earth shaking openers continues with a 15 minute Down with Disease. The second extended set 1 DWD in 3 shows, you could feel that Phish was really locked into a comfortable groove with placing a heavy jam vehicle, specifically this one, early in the set in order to kick start free flowing improvisation that is permeates every show of 2003. This Disease didn't hit the level of 2.21, but it did break into "standard Winter 03 type-2." If you have been following along with these writeups, I do believe this is the first time I have used "type 2" to describe a jam... this is because nearly every extended jam goes "type 2" territory in 2003 - very few stay with the chord/key framework of the original song. This DWD however, although extended, stays relatively benign: quintessential muted-2003 Trey nimble-picking over a vastly textured three-piece soundscape How ironic and entitled this must sound. A 15-minute show opener type 2 Down with Disease and here I am harrumphing about it. If I was there, I know I would have been geeking out. But upon replay value, there just isn't much there... but really, it is a good jam. Okay enough of that. Moving along. The bustout trend continues with a heartfelt and fluttery Corinna. Super pretty and fulfilling, this opening salvo of DWD, Corinna in its feel and tone speaks to the heart, rather than the mind or soul. A standard, rock/funk Wofman's comes next and delivers as DWD did - interesting but not mind blowing but still a lot of fun. Limb by Limb comes in next and is really the all star of the first set. The band hits a Trey-led, ferocious peak about halfway through. Dizzying to say the least, Phish unleashed a hurricane of music during this LXL. Inspired, volcanic playing dissolves into a meadow of free flowing spacetime. Like water over a flood plain, the jam spreads out, slows down, and drifts placidly through the fields of our minds. It never returns to the LXL theme, it simply absorbs into its surroundings and humbly ends. Great stuff. 23 minutes, 18 minutes, 12 minutes. Normally you'd see that to end a set and say "HOLY CHEESEY POOFS LETS SMOKE A BOWL AND LISTEN TO PHISH CRUSH THESE JAMS AND ORDER SPACE PIZZA!!! ZOMG!!!" Well. Yes, normally. But not this time. Personally, I like my Phish a la carte. The bluesy/jazzy/ragtimey-ish jam sessions with BB King just didn't do it for me. The music isn't bad, no way, but it is rather repetitive and monotonous. This speaks to two things: 1)That Phish as a band and as individual musicians are head, shoulders, knees and toes above anyone else. No one can touch them. Period. 2) That Phish's live show need not be "produced," or have gimmicks, or special guests, or whathaveyou, to maintain their popularity and audience appeal. We are SO LUCKY to have these indescribably skilled musicians playing for us. But thanks to BB King, I was able to wash our floors, clean the countertops, clean the bathroom, start a load of laundry and make a grilled cheese sandwich - none of these are metaphors by the way.

Set 2 kicks off with a crowd-pleasing, first-of-tour Halley's Comet. Ahhh, now this is what I am talking about. Wasting no time, you could HEAR that the band was going to jam this one out. It saunters out of the chorus and into a drippy little groove. Equal parts minimalist funk + space groove + quintessential 2003 type 2 (there it is again, damn it), this jam really elevates and cruises along. It dips into what I was CERTAIN was going to be a -> I am Hydrogen. I mean, given the standalone verions of Mike's Song and Weekapaug, why NOT have a standalone Hydrogen!? (author's aside: I have been wanting a standalone I am Hydrogen for as long as I've been seeing Phish. Please guys, come on.) Sooo close. They break out of the Hydrogen jam and right into... an NICU jam??? Yup. Call it teases or just messing around, Phish fiddles with NICU for a brief couple measures before powering down and mashing up with Harry Hood. Harry Hood second song second set?! YES PLEASE! This Hood is straight forward fire. No nonsense, no noodling around, this Hood hits a TREMENDOUSLY CELEBRATORY peak. I was completely surprised by this Hood in the best way imaginable. It is an ass-kicker! After the peak it winds down and drifts really appropriately into Heavy Things. It just fit. I dunno why. But it worked. Heavy Things had some especially playful work from Fishman and Trey was operating on Happiness Level 4: Bob Ross. Great stuff here, especially on the coattails of a seismic Hood. The band catches it breath before taking on Twist. This version, although clocking in at 18 minutes, is forgettable. Murky and opaque, the band dives into dark dissonance for a majority of the jam - what most people refer to as "oxy jamming." Sigh. They forge back into the Twist theme and crash land rather awkwardly. All of these Dreams gives us all a "reset" and we are ready for more with a late set Waves. Waves is well played, nothing too fancy, nothing mind blowing, but a super good, happy pick-me-up after the puzzling, demented Twist, AOTD combo. Sample had me thinking "End of Set" but it led into Chalk Dust, hooray!!! Chalk Dust though, featured way too much wankery from Trey. It seemed like it was headed to the top of Mount St Helens in an attempt to reignite an eruption, but it only got about halfway there before Trey was like, "Nah were gonna change routes, and go this way, no this way, no this way... nah I'm just gonna play a lot of notes. Okay we're done now." Weird. Farmhouse encore did nothing to save the show. All and all, an odd show. One standalone sequence which was INCREDIBLE but lots of medium-to-forgettable playing. Can't win em all, especially with a tour as hot as this one.

This was a pretty weird show to be my first. B.B. King part was pretty darned boring and neither set had a particularly good flow. That being said, I'm glad to have been at any shows at all.